From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Mon Jul 29 2002 - 00:52:17 MDT
Randall writes
> > I really am amazed that you could think they start out the same as people
> > not convicted of crimes, and only then become different. Oh well.
>
> According to http://www.bop.gov/fact0598.html#Offense , at least 64.2
> percent of the people that are in federal prison right now are there
> for nothing I would consider a crime. They are just like you or me.
Maybe for nothing that *you* would consider a crime, but
they broke the law. That's one completely objective and
plain difference, so they are *not* "just like you and me".
Yes, you're right that a huge number of them, 55%, are in
for what you and I agree should not be a crime: drug offense.
And yes, a good first step is always to reduce the unnecessary
exercise of government power by unnecessary laws!
> Because of the way statistics are grouped, I can only say for sure that
> at least 14.6 are there for something I would consider a crime.
Wow! While I don't know what "D.C. Offenses" means (do you?),
the rest are indeed crimes in my book. But as I said earlier,
that doesn't matter so much as the fact that these individuals
were convicted.
One of the sad legacies of the civil rights movement for black
people was the prominent use of civil disobedience, and the
predictable lack of understanding most people would have of it.
I think it came to be misinterpreted by far too many of the
unthinking that "it's okay to break a law that (you consider)
wrong". Laws should be obeyed, right or wrong.
> There are so many laws on the books that no one can know whether they
> have violated one or more...
Here too, I absolutely agree.
Lee
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